New UK hearings on financier’s 2012 death tied to anti-Russian provocation — embassy

The hearings resumed on April 10, after a nearly nine-month pause

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LONDON, April 11. /TASS/. The resumption of hearings in the case of Alexander Perepilichny, a Russian businessman who died near London in 2012, is related to a large-scale anti-Russian provocation of the UK government, the Russian embassy in London has said.

"It’s no coincidence that those [hearings] are in sync with the large-scale anti-Russian provocation by the British leadership, which baselessly accused Russia of ‘attempt on life’ of Russian citizens Sergei and Yulia Skripal," the embassy said in a statement.

The Russian diplomatic mission said the state has demonstrated the same "clumsy and unscrupulous approach" to the Perepilichny inquiry, as to the investigations into the cases of Alexander Litvinenko, Boris Berezovsky, Nikolai Glushkov and Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The embassy added that instead of an unbiased inquiry, the British side "resorts to unsupported versions and evident disinformation."

"The political motives of the British side can be easily predicted, and the British government’s tactics, based on diverting from an unbiased investigation and closing access to documents, has been exposed long ago and is of no surprise to anyone," the statement reads.

On March 4, a former Russian military intelligence Col. Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, suffered from effects of an unknown nerve agent. They were found unconscious on a bench in a park near the Maltings shopping center in the city of Salisbury. Both are currently in hospital in critical condition.

On March 12, British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack on Skripal and his daughter. She identified the substance used in the attack as a Novichok nerve agent, developed in the Soviet Union.

While commenting on May’s remarks, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it all was a circus show, adding that the United Kingdom had launched another political media campaign based on a provocation. She urged London to make public the results of the investigation into the deaths of (former FSB officer) Alexander Litvinenko, (fugitive Russian tycoon) Boris Berezovsky, (whistleblower) Alexander Perepilichny and many others who "died under mysterious circumstances on British soil.".